Calchas

Yes, unlike the vast majority of air tickets sold today, xONEx tickets are manually priced and QR doesn't want to train its employees to do it.

Use another carrier to issue the ticket.

anabolism

I've booked some DONEx tickets with QR as the first carrier (first few, actually) by calling the AA RTW desk.

Full Score

I used to be able to put details into the oneworld tool for a RTW starting in JNB.
It would notify me of the price, but then refuse to accept a booking which I then had to make via the BA Exec desk.

Now, it appears that even this isn't possible. It won't accept an itinerary beginning CPT-JNB-LHR..... Ditto out of Oslo.

Why doesn't someone at OW overhaul this appallingly implemented site?

Himeno

There is no rule that requires the first marketing carrier ticket the trip. The online tool only does so due to a technical limitation. Older versions of the tool had tickets starting with certain carriers (such as QR, JL, LA) sent to another carrier (AA, QF) to issue the ticket. The current version did away with that.

My DONE3 last year was ticketed by QR. First flight was on JL. Travel agent sent it to QR as QR was operating the longest flight on the trip (DFW-DOH).

pandaperth

I thought I'd just check what you said, and of course the tool worked perfectly for me!! Had no trouble entering the itinerary, getting it priced and entering contact details. I now have a PNR for my itinerary!

A very simple itinerary: CPT-oJNB-LHR-LAX-HKG-JNB in J for ZAR88,410 +++ ZAR12,748 = total of ZAR101,158

Also, the tool seems to have reverted to the old way of choosing flights - selecting each segment individually instead of the tool automatically selecting and the user having to change the flights to what is really wanted.

FWIW I accessed the tool in Internet Explorer by going straight to rtw.oneworld.com

henry999

Just to point out a little more tool funniness. There aren't a lot of OW options out of Norway. Aside from the problematic QR to DOH, there is basically BA to LHR and AY to HEL. When I adjust the itinerary to make it start OSL-LHR-DOH, I get a different error message:

> Pricing Error
> Sorry, we've noticed that an error has occurred. The fastest way to get a quote
>is to contact British Airways.

Similarly with AY to HEL as the first sector. Same message, except 'contact Finnair' instead of 'contact British Airways'.

Maybe I'll have to look for a TA who knows what s/he is doing -- although after following the arguments here over the years I have in general been more persuaded by the position that when trouble happens it's better to have a ticket purchased directly from an airline.

Also, I suppose I could make one of my trans-oceanics on AA and thereby perhaps get them willing to be involved -- although recent comments about their inventing additional hurdles regarding credit cards put them in a somewhat negative light.


Thank luck for that, anyway!

pandaperth

Again, I tried to duplicate the error; and again the tool priced an itinerary for me, namely:

OSL-oLHR-oDOH-NRT-JFK-xHEL-OSL

henry999

Interesting. Now I'm intrigued as well as challenged.

pyffii

makes no difference which browser !!!...I have a 16 segment DONE5 ex JNB and maybe way too complicated for the tool even though no exotic routings !!!

anabolism

I realize it's just a test itinerary, but out of curiosity, why is your only stop in JNB, everywhere else a connection?

Have there been recent comments that AA is inventing credit-card-related rules? My understanding is that went away a year or three ago.

I wouldn't expect the browser to affect if it prices or not, although I can easily see some browsers not letting you pick or change flights, that sort of thing. Typically, some browsers might not support the UI controls used by the site, but shouldn't affect back-end processing.

Try a very simple itinerary, e.g., just the intercontinental flights, and see if it prices. If it does, then start adding in segments one or two at a time and see where it fails. Or just call AA or QF or CX or BA.

henry999

Well, I took your approach and stripped my routing down to the bones ... and it priced! (I'm looking at a DONE4 Eur-SWP-Asia-NA-Eur). So I started fleshing it out, checking with each addition. It continued to work fine until I wanted to add my 3rd and 4th Asian sector. Then it went flakey, depending on which particular routes I chose.

I suppose I can book what it gives me and try to sort it out later with the $125 fee.

anabolism

Or call AA, QF, CX, BA, etc. to create and ticket it. Or use the tool with as many segments as will work, then if it gives you a PNR, immediately call whichever airline it priced it with and have them make the changes and ticket.

pandaperth

Dr. HFH

If you're in QRPC, the advantage of having your xONEx ticket on 157 stock is that you can upgrade individual flights with QCredits. I lost out on a DOH-SYD upgrade last month because my DONE4 was issued by AA. And F only had 2 pax!

Full Score

I am able to price an AONE4 starting CPT-JNB-LHR with a total of 10 segments, but as soon as I add more than 2 segments in any one continent (Africa, Eur, US or Asia), it gives a pricing error. It would appear that there is a maximum number of segments it will accept in each continent - pretty pathetic for a RTW tool!